UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 8 Owenmore River

1^st (7) Andrew Nesbitt/James O'Brien (Impreza WRC) 38.33

2^nd (8) Peadar Hurson/Ian Porter (Celica) 39.21

3^rd (3) Derek McGarrity/Chris Patterson (Impreza WRC) 39.43

4^th (5) Eamonn Boland/Anthony Nestor (Impreza WRC) 39.45

5^th (2) Austin McHale/Brian Murphy (Corolla WRc) 39.55

6^th (4) Daniel & Michael Doherty (Impreza WRc) 40.07

7^th (9) Niall Maguire/Paul McLaughlin (Impreza WRC) 40.33

8^th (6) David Greer/Michael Reid (Corolla WRC) 40.45

9^th (19) Trevor Cathers/Gordon Noble (Lancer N) 40.58

10^th (10) Brendan Kelly/Rory Kennedy (Lancer N) 41.23

11^th (14) Maurice Gass/Geoffrey Orr (Impreza WRC) 41.39

12^th (26) Dickie Curran/Gary Lyons (Lancer N) 41.54

Rally leader Andrew Nesbitt set fastest time over this opening Sunday stage, Owenmore River, but the Armagh man was far from happy when he arrived here at Dowra interim service. As the mechanics bolted new Pirellis to the front the engineers were frantically working at the back of the Subaru, trying to locate a fault that Andrew had detected in the transmission. The Tarmac Champion reported "The stage was damp and slippy, but the main problem was a noise at the back of the car, we’re trying to find out what exactly it was". Second placed Peadar Hurson said "We’re taking it handy enough". Peadar was still 3^rd fastest on 6.12. Nesbitt was quickest on 6.04 and Boland 6.11. Why had Boland’s pace suddenly upped? Co-driver Anthony Nestor just shrugged his shoulders and said "We concentrated on these stages during the recce". Derek McGarrity was just a bit off the pace with a time of 6.30 and admitted that the stage just didn’t click. Daniel Doherty was even more off the pace, the Carndonagh man reporting "The intercom stopped working, couldn’t hear the notes, had a spin".

Further back there were major dramas when Garry Jennings’ Peugeot went on fire just before the finish of the stage. It transpired that the exhaust, damaged on yesterday’s big jump, had broken and set fire to the plastic around the fuel tank. Garry caught on fairly quickly and got the car stopped. Following competitors also stopped, and manhandled the 106 on to it’s side to get at the seat of the fire with their extinguishers. Reports suggest the damage is not too extensive, but it will almost certainly spell the end of Garry’s rally – which is a real shame – the young Ballinamallard man was driving absolutely brilliantly, as ever, and was lying 14^th overnight and leading his class by a country mile.